It is known that catheters may be used for releasing objects, e.g., stents, or for use of dilatation balloons. One field of application is in angioplasty, for example, where balloon catheters are inserted into blood vessels and advanced up to a stenosis, where the balloon catheters are dilated to eliminate the stenosis of the blood vessel. A small-diameter guide wire usually protrudes beyond the balloon catheter at the distal end.
German Patent Application No. 600 11 355 discloses a delivery system for an intravascular prosthesis with which the proximal end of a catheter engages in a running device which facilitates a relative displacement between an inner sheath and an outer sheath of the catheter. For releasing an object such as a stent arranged on the distal end, the outer sheath is pulled toward the proximal end. This movement may take place uniformly by pulling the outer sheath into the running device.
Such delivery systems are also known from European Patent Application No. 1 447 058; U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,669; and European Patent Application No. 747 021 which are cited herein as examples.
With the approaches known previously, there is a dependence between the total length of the catheter and the length of the stent. The longer the stent, the longer the total length of the catheter. For example, this yields a total length of a catheter with a stent length of 200 mm, which is at least 180 mm longer than the length of a catheter with a stent length of 20 mm. Accordingly, for the user, e.g., the physician, inserting the catheter this means using a longer guide wire with more complex and less ergonomic handling.